Sales professionals in any business enterprise should be very familiar with the company's sales budget. This is the total sales the company forecasts it will achieve within a calendar or fiscal year. Some businesses may allow individual sales agents to be responsible for a portion of these sales while other businesses encourage their sales team to focus on the big picture. Setting goals for your sales team will aid you in exceeding your sales budget.

Focus On The Sales Pipeline

Some clients or customers will be ready to purchase now, while others may need to mull things over. The more viable opportunities sales representatives have in their sales pipelines, the more likely your business will be to exceed its sales budget. Sales agents need to prospect. Only by having conversations about the business's offerings with prospects will they be able to uncover viable opportunities for their sales pipelines. You always want sales in the pipeline to exceed whatever sales goals you've set for the department or individual agents, because not every opportunity in a pipeline will make it through to closure.

Get A Commitment

Many sales professional fail to get a commitment for purchase from their prospects. The sales professional may give a solid presentation and send out a proposal but fail to confirm with the decision-maker that their solution will be the one purchased. Don't let your sales agents leave opportunities to chance. Have them confirm that their prospects are ready and willing to move forward and the time frame for doing so. Encourage them to ask the prospect what potential obstacles might exist. People or processes within an organization can serve as roadblocks to a successful deal.

Follow-Up

You never know when a competitor might try to swoop in and steal your business's prospects. Effective follow-up is one the greatest tools sales agents have against this type of sabotage. Most customers or clients will give an agent permission to follow up with them once a month, once a quarter or at whatever juncture they deem acceptable. Follow-up allows agents to keep track of opportunities and report back to you on their progression in the sales pipeline. When following up, agents must reiterate the business value, impart insights and ideas and educate their prospects on how your business's offering will make their lives better.

Close

You'll never meet or exceed your sales budget if sales agents don't get their prospects to sign on the dotted line. Prospecting, presenting and follow-up should be ongoing until a purchase order has been received or a client's credit card has been approved. Empower your sales agents to offer incentives to advance the purchasing timeline. Customers love to get more for their money. An extended warranty or an additional product or discount are all ways they can help you exceed your sales budget that much quicker.

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About the Author

Oneil Williams started writing professionally in 1993. He wrote for "The Sunday Gleaner" and the "Jamaica Observer," two newspaper publications in Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States in 1995. Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in communication from the University of Central Florida.